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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday: DIY Cutout Decals

As promised, I have a tutorial for the dress inspired manicure from last Friday. This is made with a technique that I have been playing with for a while and involves nothing more than some nail polish and a ziplock bag. I think the possibilities with this technique are endless. These cutout decals are just one example of what you can do...

Using white nail polish, paint a rectangle about 1.5x larger than your nail on the ziplock bag.- Apply a second coat if needed to reach full opacity.- Allow to dry completely (I usually let this dry overnight)

Peel the sheet of nail polish off the ziplock bag. Sometimes it helps to use tweezers to get it started, but it should peel off easily once a corner is lifted.

Using scissors, cut out the decals as shown above

The cutout decals should look approximately as shown in Step 4.

Apply desired number of base color coats.

When the polish is still slightly tacky, but not wet, apply the decals to the nail as shown above. - If you are starting out with an existing manicure that is already dry, apply a coat of clear polish and allow it to get tacky for decal application...(Please excuse the extra large decals I created... they certainly don't have to be this big :) )

Using cuticle nippers, clip the decals as close to the cuticles as possible

Clean up the edges as needed. If you didn't clip as perfectly as you wanted, take a look at the cleanup tutorial on how to get a clean line near the cuticle. Since the decals are made of nail polish, they should easily dissolve and clean up with acetone/nail polish remover...

Apply a top coat and enjoy :)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I would love to know what you think of it...

As always, if you try this or any of my other tutorials/manicures, I would love to see your creations :)

Hey, just dropping by to say that your tutorial has been stolen and the watermark cropped out by a facebook page with over a million likes. They've done it to mine and many more as well, so feel free to report them! You can find it here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=412846545459347&set=pb.279265195484150.-2207520000.1358295326&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F542152_412846545459347_581602631_n.jpg&size=500%2C500

About Me

I am a self proclaimed craft nerd. I love all things crafty and will try just about any of it. Favorite hobbies include carving candles, decorating cakes, and making jewelry. In my free time, I love to play with nail polish! Questions/comments? Feel free to contact me at angalek@gmail.com